No action against Nampa pharmacist

In a letter issued Thursday, Executive Director Mark Johnston wrote that the board had concluded its investigation into the incident and found no violations of state laws the board is tasked with enforcing.

In a complaint to the board, Planned Parenthood officials said the Nampa Walgreens pharmacist improperly used the state’s conscience law to refuse to fill a prescription for Methergine, a medicine used to prevent or control bleeding of the uterus following childbirth or an abortion.

But according to the Board of Pharmacy’s response, the Idaho Pharmacy Act does not require a pharmacist to fill a prescription. Even if the conscience law was used incorrectly, the pharmacist did not violate the Idaho Pharmacy Act by refusing to fill the prescription, the board found.

In response to Planned Parenthood’s assertion that denying the prescription could have placed the patient in grave danger, the board said no such danger was realized because the medicine was obtained elsewhere.

“We’re disappointed. We’re not surprised,” Kristen Glundberg-Prossor, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, said Monday. “This decision confirms that, in Idaho, a pharmacist has no duty to fill any prescription for any reason. Right now, there is no protection under Idaho law for patients to receive treatment if a pharmacist refuses to provide it.”

She said Planned Parenthood will push for changes to or repeal of the conscience law at the legislative level.

“If these refusals keep happening for whatever reason, people are not going to get the health care they deserve,” she said.

Planned Parenthood officials had also complained that the pharmacist inquired if the patient needed the drug for post-abortion care. The nurse refused to answer the question based on confidentiality of health information.

According to the Board of Pharmacy’s response, Planned Parenthood alleged the pharmacist’s inquiry violated privacy provisions of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which the board is not entitled to enforce. Under the Idaho Pharmacy Act, releasing such information would be a violation, but requesting it is not, the response states.